Al Gore, the man who first introduced the idea of blaming “the wealthiest one percent” for all of America’s ills, is continuing to embarrass himself in the sale of his low-rated Current TV channel to the Al Jazeera.
First, we learned that Current’s management believed that the favorite news channel of Islamic fundamentalist terrorists is closer to its own viewpoints than conservative media mogul Glenn Beck; now comes news that the former Democratic presidential candidate was insistent that the sale to the Qatari channel be completed before December 31. That date was important to Gore because he was trying to avoid the higher tax rates that President Obama has been clamoring for so desperately for years.
Al Jazeera did not disclose the purchase price, but people with direct knowledge of the deal pegged it at around $500 million, indicating a $100 million payout for Mr. Gore, who owned 20 percent of Current. Mr. Gore and his partners were eager to complete the deal by Dec. 31, lest it be subject to higher tax rates that took effect on Jan. 1, according to several people who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. But the deal was not signed until Wednesday.
It’s hard to feel sorry for Gore considering that he spent a great deal of his 2000 presidential campaign raging against eventual president George W. Bush for allegedly wanting to give away America’s cash to the very richest Americans. In his first debate with Bush, Gore said the following:
He spends more money for tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent than all of his new spending proposals for health care, prescription drugs, education and national defense all combined.
I agree that the surplus is the American people’s money. It’s your money. That's why I don't think we should give nearly half of it to the wealthiest 1 percent, because the other 99 percent have had an awful lot to do with building this surplus and our prosperity.
In truth, as Americans have learned at length during the just-concluded battle over extending the Bush tax cuts, they were actually given to almost every American and not just to “the wealthiest one percent.”
One wonders if Gore will share some of his massive $100 million payout with the daily employees who also “had an awful lot to do” with running Current TV and enabling him to sell it off, thereby jeopardizing their own jobs. Actually one doesn’t really wonder. Leftist elites like Gore have repeatedly demonstrated that they want one law for themselves and one law for the rest of us. Unfortunately, the people who follow them have yet to realize this.
